Identifying and illuminating live Grateful Dead shows (and shows by band members) that are unknown or poorly documented.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia Tour Itinerary July-August 1969

I have been constructing tour itenararies for the Grateful Dead for brief periods of their history. There is so much information circulating on websites and blogs (including my own) that go beyond published lists on Deadlists and Dead.net that these posts make useful forums for discussing what is known and missing during each period. So far I have reviewed

Rather than go in strictly chronological order, I am focusing on periods where recent research has been done by myself or others. Over time I hope to have the entire 1965-70 period. My principal focus here is on identifying which dates have Grateful Dead shows, which dates might have Grateful Dead shows, and which dates are in dispute or may be of interest. Where relevant, I am focusing on live appearances by other members--mostly Jerry Garcia, as a practical matter--in order to get an accurate timeline.

What follows is a list of known Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia dates, including The New Riders Of The Purple Sage, from July and August 1969. I am focused on which performances occurred when, rather than the performances themselves. For known performances, I have assumed that they are easy to assess on Deadlists, The Archive and elsewhere. As a point of comparison, I am comparing my list to Deadlists and The Jerry Site (for Garcia dates), but I realize that different databases may include or exclude different dates (I am not considering recording dates, interviews or Television or radio broadcast dates in this context).

My working assumption is that the Grateful Dead, while already a legendary rock band in 1969, were living hand to mouth and scrambling to find paying gigs. Even by 1969, most paying performances were on Friday and Saturday nights, and I am particularly interested in Friday and Saturday nights where no Grateful Dead performances were scheduled or known. I have linked to existing posters where available.

July 3, 1969 Reeds Ranch, Colorado Springs, CO Grateful Dead/Alice Cooper/Zephyr/others
Many fledlging promoters tried to put on rock festivals in the Summer of 1969, the most famous of which was of course Woodstock. But there were numerous other such events around the country. Colorado Springs is in a flatter, less freewheeling part of Colorado than the Denver/Boulder area. The Grateful Dead, always intrepid, headlined over a variety of local bands and one other California band, a strangely unpopular Los Angeles group that had been signed by Frank Zappa.

Amongst the many regional acts on the bill were Zephyr, the best and best known band on the Boulder scene, featuring the great Tommy Bolin on guitar.

July 7, 1969 Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA Grateful Dead/Chicago Transit Authority/Delaney & Bonnie & Friends/Allman Brothers Band
The Grateful Dead played a Monday afternoon free concert at an outdoor park in Atlanta. I have to assume that this was primarily for publicity purposes, since the Dead had no real following in the Southeast. This event was put on by the promoters of the Atlanta Pop Festival (h/t sawgrassbooks for the link). One thing I find curious is not that the Dead played for free, as that was part of their "business model," to the extent they had one; the odd part is that they had to fly to Atlanta to do it, at a time when money was tight. I see a few possibilities:

Warner Bros helped pay for the band to go to Atlanta, or

The promoters of the Atlanta Pop Festival (held July 3-4-5) footed the bill, or

The Dead played Atlanta or somewhere in the Southeast on Sunday July 6

The recently formed Allman Brothers Band had regularly played free concerts in Piedmont Park. The Dead arrived somewhat late and did not begin performing until 8:00 pm. As a result, although the Dead and the Allman Brothers met at this concert, the Dead did not hear the Allman Brothers Band play, and they would not hear them live until the famous February 11, 1970 show at Fillmore East. However, eyewitnesses report that an after show jam (that started near midnight) featured Jerry Garcia and Duane Allman among many other players.

July 10, 1969 Evergreen Estate, Norwalk, CT The Grateful Dead
This show is listed on Dead.net as a Hells Angels Party. I have no idea if the event actually occurred, but I fervently hope it did. The Evergreen Estate (now Cranbury Park) was the grounds of a large mansion that had been taken over by the City of Norwalk in 1965. While the odds today on an outdoor concert by the Grateful Dead, sponsored by the Hells Angels, anywhere near the city of Norwalk border on zero, it might just have been possible in 1969.

July 10 would have been a Thursday, between a Tuesday show in Toronto and a weekend stand in Queens. A tape circulates with this date, but apparently it is just a pastiche of other shows. However, paradoxically I find this date so unlikely that I am actually inclined to believe it. Anyone with any further proof or even hints of this show is encouraged to put them in the Comments. [not on Deadlists]

Cleveland Wrecking Company was a jazz-rock band who were popular on the local dance circuit. They played original music, but never recorded. Ice was a local band associated with Quicksilver Messenger Service manager Ron Polte.

The most interesting fact about this show was the report from Blair Jackson (in outtakes from his fine Garcia biography) that this show featured the debut of The New Riders Of The Purple Sage, although they were not yet known by that name. Apparently, according to the late John Dawson, their set was marred by equipment problems with Bear's sound system.

There are no Grateful Dead performances on the weekends of either July 18-19 or July 25-26. The Dead were not recording to my knowledge, but I have no accounts of their activities during this time. Dennis McNally does mention (p. 322) that the band went to Garcia's house on Sunday July 20 to watch the moon landing (only Jerry had a TV), so we know they were in town that day, but otherwise these two weeks are a mystery.

August 1, 1969 Bear's Lair, UC Berkeley Jerry Garcia, Marmaduke and Friends
This show was billed as "Jerry Garcia, Marmaduke and Friends," the name the band used before Hunter coined the name New Riders Of The Purple Sage. The group played at The Bear's Lair, a coffee shop in the basement of the Student Union building on Bancroft (Pauley Ballroom was two floors above it). This was supposedly the only show where Bob Matthews played bass with the Riders. The subject of the New Riders 1969 bass player is worthy of a post in itself, but according to Robert Hunter, both Hunter and Matthews rehearsed as bassist, but Phil Lesh played all the gigs.

More interesting to me is the booking of the date itself. A look at the poster (below) for the weekend's shows at The Family Dog At The Great Highway lists the Dead playing on August 1, 2 and 3 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). There was a labor dispute going on in San Francisco at the time, involving light shows trying to unionize, and there were plans to picket the Family Dog. Dennis McNally describes the Friday, August 1 confrontation in some detail (p.324), with an unhappy Garcia feeling put upon but still unwilling to cross a picket line.

Eventually the dust settled, and peace of some kind was made, but Garcia had left the scene. There was a show of some kind at the Family Dog on this night, and some Dead members (apparently Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann) participated in some kind of jam, but Garcia was long gone and all in all it was a strange night for the San Francisco scene.

Although the Friday night light show "strike" (on August 1) was fraught with confrontation, but the dust seems to have settled somewhat by the next day, and the Light Show operators seemed to have overplayed their hands in any case. Fans enjoyed light shows, but they were paying for the music and the operators had little leverage. In any case, the Dead played the Family Dog both Saturday (Aug 2) and Sunday (Aug 3). On August 3, the Dead were joined by a a flautist, a tenor saxophonist and an electric violinist. I have suggested that Charles Lloyd was the flute player, also probably the tenor player--unless it was John Handy--and Michael White the violinist.

August ? 1969 Lion's Share, San Anselmo New Riders Of The Purple Sage
The Lions Share was a tiny club in San Anselmo that mainly catered to local musicians (at 60 Red Hill Drive), and it had just opened. It has recently come to light that the New Riders were one of the first performers at the club, and it was one of their first performances as well. Research continues on this matter, and I will put in a link when more details get locked down. [not on TheJerrySite]

August 6-9, 1969 The Matrix, San Francisco New Riders Of The Purple Sage
A New Riders tape from the Matrix dated August 7, 1969 has circulated for many years. I recently confirmed that these were the first gigs under the name New Riders of The Purple Sage. They definitely played two nights (Wednesday Aug 6 and Thursday Aug 7), and I think they played Friday and Saturday also.

The band was billed in the SF Chronicle as The New Riders of The Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart. Although Phil Lesh actually performed with the group, he seems not to have been considered a regular member. [not on TheJerrySite]

update: it appears that old South Bay pal Pete Grant sat in with the New Riders on banjo for a few numbers. Not surprisingly, Garcia and Nelson were very excited to play on the same bill with the New Lost City Ramblers, and at the end of the show members of both bands played a few tunes together.

August 16, 1969 Max Yasgur's Farm, Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, Bethel, NY
The Grateful Dead played a miserable set under difficult circumstances at Woodstock. There is little to add to all that has been written about the festival, so I will only wonder how stoned must the band have been in order to need Country Joe McDonald--not exactly an advertisement for being straight himself--to come on stage during the Dead's set and warn people about the brown acid.

August 19, 1969 Family Dog At The Great Highway New Riders Of The Purple Sage
Dennis McNally listed this date without comment on his initial list of Garcia performances. My reaction for many years was that a Tuesday night Riders show between Woodstock and Seattle made no sense at all, and dismissed it. I have since re-thought my views.

The New Riders of The Purple Sage were about to embark on a brief Northwestern tour with the Dead, trying out their idea of bringing an opening act (with its attendant fee) while only bringing two extra people (John Dawson and David Nelson). Given the problems the Riders had at Longshoreman's Hall, I would not be surprised if this was a rehearsal on the Dead's equipment, in anticipation of the Seattle show. I assume the event would have been open to the public--why not sell a few tickets?--but there wouldn't have been much publicity.

My theory, while interesting, falls into the category of "not proven." [not on TheJerrySite]Update: Jerry Garcia was definitely at a meeting at the Dog on August 19, as it was mentioned in the Berkeley Tribe, but there's no evidence he actually played.

August 20, 1969 El Roach Tavern, Ballard, WA Grateful Dead
The Dead, The New Riders of The Purple Sage and a group called Sanpaku were scheduled to play an outdoor venue in Seattle. They got rained out, so the Dead played a scary biker bar in Seattle called El Roach. I have written about this at length.[not on Deadlists]

On Friday, August 22, the Grateful Dead were scheduled to play the Wild West Festival at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. However, the event was canceled the week before, so I assume the Dead stayed in the Pacific Northwest.

August 23, 1969 Bullfrog 2 Festival, Pelletier Farm, St Helens, OR Grateful Dead/Taj Mahal/Portland Zoo/Sabatic Goat/River/Sand/Notary Sojac/Searchin Soul/The Weeds/New Colony/Chapter Five/Trilogy/Bill Feldman/Don Ross/Mixed Blood/Ron Bruce
The Grateful Dead headlined a rock festival in Oregon. This festival was originally scheduled for the Columbia County Fairgrounds in St. Helens, Oregon, about 30 miles North of Portland, but a local judge voided the promoters contract. The festival was moved to private property nearby.

The festival ran three days (August 21-22-23). I assume Taj Mahal headlined Friday night (Aug 22) and the Dead headlined Saturday. The rest of the groups were Oregon bands. An eyewitness once reported (in a letter to an Oregon newspaper) that the New Riders (and Country Joe) played the show also, and I find that plausible since we know that Nelson, Dawson and their equipment were with the band.

August 24, 1969 Paradise Valley Resort, Squamish, BC Grateful Dead
This was the Vancouver Pop Festival, at a Resort about 40 miles North of Vancouver, BC. Dozens of name acts were listed on the poster, but its unclear which bands played on the same day as the Dead. In any case, the Festival definitely happened, albeit in the jumbled messy way of 1969 rock festivals, although I know nothing of the Dead's performance, or if they truly made it to the stage.

August 28, 1969 Family Dog At The Great Highway Mickey And The Hartbeats
Chet Helms had opened his Family Dog at The Great Highway operation (at 660 Great Highway) to great fanfare in June. Helms was a clever promoter, but a poor financial manager, and despite financial support from Bill Graham (of all people), the Family Dog was in dire financial straits by August, not least because of the bizarre debacle involving light shows (see August 1).The Dead had close ties to Helms, however, and in particular the Dead's manager Lenny Hart seemed to be closely connected as well, perhaps accounting for this run of peculiar shows.

This show is only known from a cassette master, labeled by Bear with the date and the word "Hartbeats." The tape features Garcia, Lesh, Hart, Kreutzmann and Howard Wales on organ. Wales was the organist for a group called AB Skhy, who had relocated to San Francisco from Milwaukee the previous Summer. Wales was a unique player, and Garcia would begin jamming with him regularly at The Matrix in early 1970, and later play with Wales on his Hooteroll? album. I believe this is the first known performance of Garcia and Wales together.

Nothing else is known of this show--I do not know of any publicity or flyer, so I have no idea if other acts played, possibly including the Dead or New Riders. I suspect this was sort of a public jam, of the sort of thing Garcia had tried various times at The Carousel (in May and June 68) and The Matrix (in October 68 and various later times into 1971). The existence of this tape is one of the reasons I am inclined to find the August 19 New Riders date (above) plausible.

Update: there is good reason to think that this show was indeed a public jam, held in the afternoon. An unknown flautist sat in as well.

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were recently arrived from Ann Arbor, MI. These shows would have been among their earliest gigs in the Bay Area. The Rubber Duck Company were a rock group that backed a mime. The band, whose membership probably fluctuated mostly featured Berkeley musicians. Grateful Dead organist Tom Constanten would end up joining the group the next year, when they would change their name to Touchstone (update: a Commenter says that Phoenix replaces Rubber Duck at least one night, and probably both)

The ad (right) is from the Panama City, FL News, from August 22, 1969. Note that the band name is "Greatful Dead."

The open dates of interest in this time period are

Sunday July 6 [Atlanta or the Southeast]
Friday, July 18
Saturday, July 19
Friday, July 25
Saturday, July 26

I do not expect that all of these dates have undiscovered shows, but I'll bet some of them do. It is also possible that some very low key New Riders of The Purple Sage gigs (under various names) occurred during this time at well, most likely on weeknights.

13 comments:

7/7/69: when the GD portion of this was seeded at Dimeadozen in January 2008, user wavydavy25 said this: "Absolutely NO Gregg or Duane on this [GD] portion of that afternoon. I was there. Duane did participate on a jam afterwards with Garcia and many others, however."

8/1/69: there is so much weirdness around this date ... but I don't have much doubt that it happened, unless some folks were *really* burned. The Daily Californian ran repeated mentions, including on the front page and including with pictures. (One of the pictures shows Jerry and Mickey, oddly enough.) I would add that a listing in Good Times (v.2 n.29, 7/31/69, p. 24) lists two shows, at 8:30 and 10:30.

Not much I can add to this, except another comment on 7/7/69 - Deadlists suggests that Duane & Gregg can be heard in the Lovelight, but I didn't hear them, and have strong doubts that they'd join in anyway. The Dead apparently missed or didn't hear the Allmans' show; generally when other musicians joined them in Lovelight, it was people they knew. So, I believe this is a false rumor. There was an aftershow jam with lots of musicians, though, marking the first time Jerry & Duane played together.

I am actually inclined to believe the Bears Lair August 1 date. But its worth noting that Garcia seems to have anticipated the confrontation and planned another gig as an excuse to leave.

It would also explain the Bob Matthews part, although not Hart exactly. If Jerry left for Berkeley, wouldn't Hart have had to? Phil may have bailed on the whole thing, leaving Matthews to play bass. Of course, since he was supposed to be mixing the Dead's sound--they had skipped out on their gig--it adds to the general weirdness factor.

This was truly a magical party fondly remembered by all who attended. A free party in the park with The Allman Brothers and lots of others after the Atlanta Pop Festival. Read about it herehttp://thestripproject.com/Hippies%20Stories/1408FCE9-EEF6-42D4-A71E-718AEC8D333D.html

RE: the 7/10/69 Norwalk, CT show - I grew up two miles from the park and hung out there a lot in high school/college and have been wondering about that date for years. Unfortunately, in my 18 years in that town I never ever heard anybody mention anything about the GD playing there. Likewise, two of my older brothers who were 15 and 18 at the time never mentioned anything about it. I'm not sure how familiar they would've been with the GD at the time but I can't imagine either of them missing out on a rock band from San Francisco within walking distance of home. The younger one is not around anymore but next time I speak with the older one I'll ask him about it.

If you can get your hands on archives of the Norwalk Hour, the local daily, you might be able to find something about it.

One additional gig: Grateful Dead and NRPS were both billed at the 'Sky River Rock Festival II' at the Black Cultural Center, Tenino, WA on August 30, 1969....but I don't know if they finally play or not.

A note to Bruno - Obviously, the Dead were not in Washington on August 30, 1969. The only place I see that claimed is a handbill on Wolfgang's Vault under that date....under closer inspection, it turns out to actually be a sign for the 8-21-69 Aqua Theatre show!

re. 8/29-30/69 The Rubber Duck Company did not play those nights. It was Phoenix. I don't know if there was a switch in the billing or some mistake but Phoenix was on stage at least one of those nights and I believe both.

Alex Cooley paid for the Dead at Piedmont Park because he wanted to give back something for the profits from The Pop Festival. Said he didn't feel guilty about making a profit, but felt it was right to share it with the Atlanta community in a special way.

After discussing this with Holly Cuzzone of the Friends Of Cranbury Park, I know that Cranbury Park was never called Evergreen Estate. There is no evidence in their archives that the GD played at a Hells Angels party at Gallaher Mansion. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.